Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490572
color, sheen and light, and the story dives into his childhood memories. The spaces themselves become extensions of his mental and emotional state. Later, in another TV studio scene, there is a moment where the talk-show interviewer asks Silverio tough questions that he doesn't want to answer. The set is designed to feel as if it almost engulfs him. The production created a vivid, saturated color palette that reflects his altered state. But these colors have to be elegant as well, like him. Dark purples, burgundies, petroleum blues, mustards, deep greens, burnt oranges and rosewood pinks fill the screen. We had some references as starting points for our palette—one of the main ones being the film The Red Shoes. We were also inspired by the work of Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, the paintings of De Chirico and Delvaux, the work of photographers Vivian Maier and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and the classic films of Roy Andersson, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Jodorowsky and Jean-Luc Godard. The crew built many sets in Churubusco Studios in Mexico City. The apartment, the bathroom in the California Dancing Club, all the sets from the TV studio, the hospital corridor and birthing-room, Silverio's room in his Los Angeles house and the train were all built there. For me, at least in terms of the sets, the apartment is the heart of the film. The space conveys many ideas. The first is that it explains the main characters and who they are, or who they were when they left Mexico thirteen years ago. The design team wanted to show that the space is somehow frozen in time, that it is not their principal home, since they lived in LA in recent years, Silverio's main influences are there. The art on the wall, the mid-century furniture pieces in combination with antiques, flea market objects and popular art, the political magazines, the decoration of the kid's room, and the family photos all provide information about the life they lived there. For this we used books, albums and objects that are meaningful for Alejandro, and for a whole generation of Mexicans who grew up like him. We did extensive research on which pieces we wanted to have in the set, and then tried to build around them. Mexican architecture has a lot of presence in the film, whether it is real buildings or sets created A. TELEVISION STUDIO. PRODUCTION STILL. B. TELEVISION STUDIO. PRODUCTION STILL. C. TALK SHOW. MODEL. D. TALK SHOW. PRODUCTION STILL. E. SILVERIO'S APARTMENT. SET PHOTO. F. SILVERIO'S APARTMENT KITCHEN. PRODUCTION STILL. G. SILVERIO'S APARTMENT COURTYARD. SET PHOTO. H. CHAPULTEPEC CASTLE TOWER. PRODUCTION STILL. A B C D